If you were busy exploring our galaxy online and not watching hoops Monday then you missed the first time in NBA history that two rookies recorded triple-doubles in the same game. We’re here to help you out with our nightly grades from around the league.

Michael Carter Williams, Philadelphia 76ers. The early leader in the Rookie of the Year race has put it all together this year — he is shooting better than he did in college, he’s getting to the line, he’s passing well and has a real sense of running a team, he is a good rebounder, and he leads the league in steals. So I guess we shouldn’t be shocked that he put it all together in one game for a triple-double — 27 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals. He had 7 of those points plus four assists in the two overtimes to help secure the win.

Victor Oladipo, Orlando Magic. Before you go and hand that Rookie of the Year trophy to MCW in Philly, Oladipo would like to have a word with you. The reason Orlando was in this game was the rookie’s first ever triple double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. (To be fair, Arron Afflalo’s 43 points had a lot to do with Orlando’s game too, he was special.) Oladipo had a bit of a rough start to the season turning the ball over too much, but coach Jacque Vaughn has let the rookie learn from his mistakes and lately we’re starting to see the benefits of that. He’s looked good of late.

Brandon Knight, Milwaukee Bucks. The longer the season goes on, the more it becomes clear that Knight’s future in the league appears to be as a reserve. He just lacks the court vision and sense a starting point guard in the league needs and he can’t help carry the Bucks. He had some good moments in the fourth quarter Tuesday, but for the most part Boston’s Avery Bradley won the war — Jennings had 15 points but on 5-of-15 shooting, which is pretty close to his season average of 36.1 percent. He doesn’t seem to recognize open teammates or play strong defense. It’s been a rough year for him.

Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, Josh Smith (Detroit Pistons). We know that the Miami Heat’s weakness is interior defense, and the three bigs in Detroit have started to play better together lately. Tuesday night all of that came together — Drummond, Monroe and Smith combined for 41 points and 28 rebounds, leading the Pistons to the upset win. It wasn’t exactly efficient (Smith was 7–of-21 shooting) but they are getting the job done with that Detroit is climbing the standings in the East.

Toronto Raptors. They blew a 27-point lead in the second half (this grade is not lower because the Warriors can get hot shooting and have a magic at home… but still 27 points). It’s not all on coach Dwane Casey but he had the Raptors doing some odd things like this random double-team traps on the Warriors perimeter players, which a pass later led to a wide open three. Toronto’s defense has been pretty solid most of the season, but things fell apart in the fourth quarter in Oakland.

At 6’6″ Michael Carter-Williams is easily the tallest full-time point guard in the NBA, and you’ll notice when you watch him play that this height allows him to elevate and easily shoot over the top of just about any guard he faces. He led the nation in steals at Syracuse and should be close to the top-5 every year in that category. He already leads all PG’s in rebounds, has displayed all-around ferocious defense, has averaged 20 PPG, he’s piling up assists, and he’s shown that he has the clutch gene…all in a very short time playing with the big boys. When my 76ers took MCW with pick 11, I felt like we got 2 players (Nerlens Noel) that were top-10 quality players, and we add 2 more first rounders next year in what is supposed to be the best draft class in maybe 20 years.

As a Sixers fan through thick and thin…I really like where my team is headed. It’s been a while…

A+
tcclark, Probasketballtalk commenter. On a thread dedicated to Rookie of the Year faves back on Aug 10, 2013 at 10:42 AM, he said: Michael Carter-Williams deserves mention. He’s the guy with the ball in his hands on the worst team in the NBA. He will have more opportunity than just about anyone. He just needs to show that he has the ability to match the opportunity.

In spite of that heads-up, even at the end of October he was nowhere near PBT’s radar.

Thanks for the credit. I forgot about that post. I’m not always right, but I love it when I am.

MCW has been great this year. He’s putting up great numbers, but more than anything, he has star potential. He’s a guy that people want to watch. Perception in the NBA is so important. If you are perceived as a star by the league, by the media, and by the fans, then you actually start to become a star. You start getting more foul calls, you start getting more opportunities, and you start gaining the confidence in yourself that you need to be a great player. Look at Paul George. Paul George hasn’t completely reinvented his game. He doesn’t have a completely new role, but because he became a star in the playoffs last year his numbers have gone up drastically this season (except rebounds) mostly because of that “star” status.

Micahel Carter-Williams has the chance to get that “star” status. The media loves him now. Evan Turner has outplayed him in games but MCW got all of the highlights. If the Sixers can keep losing and get a top draft pick they could really build something great. Wiggins, Parker, or Randle would look amazing next to MCW. Couple them with Nerlens Noel and New Orleans likely lottery pick and the Sixers have a crazy good foundation.

In fairness, I went on a whole Helin/PBT-grading rant (a much longer version of this one) singing the praises of “MC-W1″ not too many games after he slaughtered the Heat on opening day, but this time knew I needed to warm up the search engine to pay proper respect to the guy who called it early.

They could have done all of the grades from that game. I mean Kurt was giving Smith, Monroe, and Drummond props for socring 41 points and 28 rebounds combined, but Afflalo, Oladipo, and Big Baby combined for 103 points and 19. That was the most insane part about last night and I have yet to see anybody mention it. 103 points between 3 players? That’s more than all of the TEAMS in the Eastern conference average on a nightly basis except for Philly and Miami. That’s more than the entire Orlando Magic team has scored in 11 or their previous 17 games. They scored 103 last night and the other 9 active players combined for 22… and Jason Maxiell had 12 of them.

Unfair to give Knight a D, one of first game back and from watching the game he is no-where near 100%. Is an in-efficient shooter at times but still averaging 17 per since injury and almost had triple double a few nights ago. Also next time lets double check our work so you don’t say Jennings again when talking about B. Knight